Microsoft Hardware Newsletter for October 27, 2009

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Top Story Windows 7 Is Here! The Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 operating systems are now available to customers worldwide. The culmination of years of dedicated and collaborative work, these releases have had the broadest and deepest level of partner engagement of any operating system in Microsoft history. If your hardware already displays the "Compatible with Windows 7" logo, congratulations and thank you for your collaboration. If not, visit the WHDC home page (http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/default.mspx) to learn how to create hardware products that take advantage of the innovations in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 and that are eligible for participation in the Windows Logo Program. - Ensure that your systems and devices are compatible. - Get information on designing for the new Windows capabilities. - Design for the 64-bit version of Windows. - Develop drivers with the Windows Driver Kit (WDK) 7.0.0. - Participate in the Windows Logo Program. News for Windows Hardware and Driver Developers Windows 7 Compatibility Center and Windows Logo With the release of the Windows Logo Kit (WLK) 1.4 in May 2009, partners began submitting and earning the "Compatible with Windows 7" logo. Since then, Microsoft has received submissions from more than 600 different hardware partners worldwide, resulting in thousands of hardware devices and systems ready for Windows 7 General Availability (GA) on October 22, 2009. Now that Windows 7 is available, there is increased interest for compatibility information on old and new products alike, so now is the time to ensure that all your products are listed in the newly launched Windows 7 Compatibility Center (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/compatibility/windows-7). - For logo products, ensure that you enter an announcement date and complete the Marketing Name information in WinQual for submissions that you want listed (https://winqual.microsoft.com/Help/how_to_add_marketing_names.htm). - For products that you do not plan to logo, send feedback or submit new products using the online product submission form (https://www.microsoft.com/windows/compatibility/windows-7/en-us/partner/submission.aspx). Using this submission form, you can also send us any changes or updates that you want to make to existing product listings. If your company has not yet done so, now is the time to earn the "Compatible with Windows 7" logo for your products and promote compatibility with Windows 7. After you earn the logo, you can: - Display the logo on your product packaging and on your Web site. By displaying the logo, you capitalize on the power of the Microsoft brand, communicate your commitment to compatibility and reliability, and help customers to make informed and confident purchase decisions. - Get listed with the logo prominently displayed in the Windows 7 Compatibility Center. - Have the logo displayed by CNET Content Solution's retail partners (http://www.cnetcontentsolutions.com/news/2009_10_22.aspx). - Visit the Windows Logo Program home page (http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/winlogo/default.mspx) to find out more about the "Compatible with Windows 7" Logo program. Are Your Devices 64-Bit-Compatible? Over the past year, adoption of 64-bit Windows Vista on new PCs has more than doubled. According to Windows Update, in September 2009 more than 40% of new PCs in the U.S. and nearly 20% of new PCs worldwide were running 64-bit Windows Vista. This growth is expected to continue in the coming months as OEMs offer an assortment of desktop and laptop PCs that will ship with 64-bit Windows 7 preinstalled. To learn how your devices and drivers can support this accelerated shift to 64-bit computing: - Check out the information on 64-bit compatibility and optimization on the WHDC page "Designing for 64-bit Windows": http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/64bit/64bitsystems.mspx. - Earn the "Compatible with Windows 7" logo. All products displaying the logo are compatible for both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows 7. Learn more about the Windows 7 Logo Program today: http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/winlogo/default.mspx. - Make sure that your products are listed in the newly launched Windows 7 Compatibility Center. Use this submission form to get listed: https://www.microsoft.com/windows/compatibility/windows-7/en-us/partner/submission.aspx. Be sure to provide information for both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. Note that products earning the "Compatible with Windows 7" logo will get listed using information that you submitted on WinQual. - Promote both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of your products on your Web site. Make sure that system requirements are up-to-date, and if earned, display the Windows 7 logo. - Learn how we're helping customers to understand what this market shift means. Read "Taking the Mystery Out of 64-Bit Windows" (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/taking-the-mystery-out-of-64-bit-windows) and "Understanding Hardware and Software for 64-Bit Windows" (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/understanding-hardware-and-software-for-64-bit-windows). Register! Windows 7 Hardware Ecosystem Event, December 1-3, 2009 This October, we launched Windows 7 to the world. Are your devices compatible with Windows 7? Make plans to join the Windows team December 1-3, 2009, in Redmond to learn how you can enable your devices to take full advantage of the Windows 7 operating system. Over the course of two-and-a-half days, you will have the opportunity to talk directly with Windows device experts and hear them present a variety of topics, including: - Windows 7 Device Experience features - Windows 7 Logo Program and Windows Logo Kit (WLK) - Updates to the submission process on the Windows Quality Online Services (Winqual) Web site - Where you can find our latest documentation and tools - How you can partner with us at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas This is a free event with a limited number of seats. We'll have more details soon, including session summaries and times. Until then: - Click here to register. (Live ID required.) - Contact DXPSUPP@microsoft.com with questions. Mark your calendars today! What's New in Blogs for Hardware and Driver Developers New Windows USB Core Team Blog The Windows USB Core Team has the mission to design, develop, and test the software stack that drives the USB host controllers and USB hubs that are present on PC running Windows operating systems. This software stack helps the client device driver software to discover and drive USB devices. Our team has also contributed and continues to contribute in defining industry standards like the USB 1.1/2.0/3.0 specifications and the host controller standards like the EHCI, OHCI, and XHCI specifications. Check out the following initial blog posts from the USB Core Team: - Introduction to the Microsoft Windows USB Core Team Blog - Getting Started with USB Driver Development - Why doesn't my driver unload? - What's the difference between USBSAMP and OSRUSBFX2 sample? Read more: http://blogs.msdn.com/usbcoreblog/ "Windows 7 Portable Devices and the Windows Logo Program" in the "Windows Portable Devices Team Blog" With the release of Windows 7 we see a great deal of maturity of the Windows Portable Device (WPD) Platform. The WPD Platform includes the WPD APIs with WPD Automation and native Device Services, the Media Transfer Protocol (MTP) class drivers with MTP over USB, MTP over IP, and MTP over Bluetooth. For more information about what is new for Windows 7, see our New Features for Windows 7 post. Due largely to the native support in Windows and our high level of engagement with industry partners, we put together a new comprehensive Logo program for Portable Devices that work well with Windows. Read more: http://blogs.msdn.com/wpdblog/archive/2009/10/09/windows-7-portable-devices-and-the-windows-logo-program.aspx "Pushing the Limits of Windows: Handles" by Mark Russinovich in "Mark's Blog" This is the fifth post in Mark's Pushing the Limits of Windows series where he explores the upper bound on the number and size of resources that Windows manages, such as physical memory, virtual memory, processes and threads: - Pushing the Limits of Windows: Physical Memory - Pushing the Limits of Windows: Virtual Memory - Pushing the Limits of Windows: Paged and Nonpaged Pool - Pushing the Limits of Windows: Processes and Threads This time Mark goes inside the implementation of handles to find and explain their limits. Read more: http://blogs.technet.com/markrussinovich/archive/2009/09/29/3283844.aspx New Things Happening with the WDK Use the Windows Driver Kit Be sure to use the Windows Driver Kit (WDK) 7.0.0 to develop and test your Windows drivers. The WDK contains the latest release of files, tools, and documents used to develop drivers for Windows. This release applies for Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Server 2003. Updates to WDK 7.0.0 include the following: - Debugging Tools for Windows - Latest header files - 1,400 new API reference topics - 826 new Driver Design Guide topics - 1,100 documentation bugs and work items completed Get the WDK: http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/DevTools/WDK/WDKpkg.mspx. Get the WDK documents only: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa972908.aspx. For more details about WDK 7.0.0, see the online version of the WDK Release Notes (http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/devtools/wdk/RelNotesW7.mspx). Edition for October 27, 2009 In This Issue: Windows 7 Is Here! News for Windows Hardware and Driver Developers What's New in Blogs for Hardware and Driver Developers New Things Happening with the WDK Tools and Links for Developers Windows Driver Developer Kits, Tools, and Programs • Windows Driver Kit • Windows Logo Kit • WDK Documentation (monthly updates) • Debugging Tools v. 6.11.1.404 (March 2009) • Windows Symbols (October 2009) • Windows Logo Program Developing Drivers with the Windows Driver Foundation Buy the Book WDF Resources on WHDC Events Microsoft Tech-Ed Europe 2009 November 9-13, 2009 Berlin, Germany Professional Developers Conference 2009 November 16-19, 2009 Los Angeles, California USA International CES 2010 January 7-10, 2010 Las Vegas, Nevada, USA The Microsoft Hardware Newsletter provides manufacturers and developers the latest technical details for how to succeed with the Windows platform. Register now, if you're not already receiving the Microsoft Hardware Newsletter. 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